European Union governments and institutions must take "immediate action" to promote growth and jobs creation as countries are tired of austerity, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy said on Thursday. "Taking these measures is more urgent than anything," he told a conference in Portugal. "After three years of firefights, patience with austerity is wearing understandably

The number of Americans filing new claims for jobless benefits fell sharply last week to its lowest level since the early days of the 2007-09 recession, suggesting the job market is still healing despite weakness in the broader economy. Other data on Thursday showed a narrowing of the U.S. trade gap in March, although drops

Saif al-Islam, a son of deposed Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, appeared in court on Thursday in the town of Zintan, where a militia has held him since his capture in November 2011, a local council official said. Saif al-Islam smiled and told journalists he was in good health during his brief court appearance. Once Gaddafi's

The U.S. Trade Representative's office criticized China on Wednesday for failing to stop the growing theft of American trade secrets that are the lifeblood of U.S economic might, in the latest sign of Washington's frustration. "Not only are repeated thefts occurring inside China, but also outside of China for the benefit of Chinese entities," USTR

London's Olympic Stadium will host four matches at the 2015 Rugby World Cup, organisers the International Rugby Board (IRB) said on Thursday. Twickenham will host five games with six at the Millennium Stadium. The other host venues are Wembley, St James' Park Newcastle, Elland Road Leeds, Leicester's King Power Stadium, Manchester's Etihad Stadium, Villa Park

Throughout Europe's debt crisis, northern European leaders have often said they will not stand for taxpayers having to fork out for other countries' problems, and the notion of "taxpayer-funded bailouts" has taken root. Yet despite three-and-a-half years of debt and banking turmoil, with bailouts totalling more than 400 billion euros, northern euro zone taxpayers have

The Greek privatisation body Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund (HRADF) said it has accepted the improved offer of Emma Delta Ltd for the acquisition of a 33% stake in gaming monopoly OPAP. Emma Delta, a Czech-Greek joint venture that was the sole bidder in the final stage of the auction, raised its bid by 30

For the first time, the world’s leading property institutions will meet to create a universal method of measuring property assets. This will tackle the problem of low investor confidence in property, its negative impact on financial markets, and ultimately global economic instability. At present, the way property assets – such as a housing development or